


The Art of Love and Friendship

by TheIgDemon



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2020-11-08 02:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20827553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIgDemon/pseuds/TheIgDemon
Summary: In a garden many light years away from Earth, Steven comes across a lone pink gem by the name of Spinel when he accidentally warps himself there. After convincing her to return with him, Steven and Spinel's life changes for the better.





	1. To the Garden

Steven was _bored_. The gems had gone off on a mission _hours_ ago and he had been left with nothing to do. Well, that was a lie; he _had_ played the new video game his dad had gotten for him last week, _The End of Fantasy 7_, but he had beaten it earlier in the day. After which he had watched TV until he had gotten tired of it.

So now he had nothing to do, and the gems still had not returned from their mission. Sighing, he flopped backwards on to his bed and stared up at the ceiling, daydreaming. It was better than doing nothing, he supposed. _'I wish I could on missions, too.'_

His thoughts were interrupted moments later by the growl of his stomach. He laid a hand on his belly and gave a thoughtful hum.

"Guess I'm hungry. I _did_ skip lunch earlier. Better not tell Pearl that, though, heh." Stretching, Steven sat up and hopped off of his bed, heading downstairs to fix himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Humming an aimless tune to himself as he made his sandwich, his eyes slowly drifted over to look at the warp pad in front of the temple. The twelve-year-old had tried to use it many times to follow the Crystal Gems on their missions with no success, and it had frustrated him to no end. He was a gem too, so why did it not work for him? It just was not fair!

Feeling down all of a sudden, but still hungry, he quickly finished preparing his sandwich and poured a glass of milk to go along with it. He sat down on one of the bar stools and quickly ate his pb&j, still eyeing the warp pad in curiosity. It was as if something was... _calling_ to him to try it once again.

Finishing his late lunch, he put his plate and cup in the sink and hurriedly walked over to the warp pad, staring at it in question. Putting a hand to his chin, he narrowed his eyes in thought before shrugging and deciding to go with the flow.

Stepping on to the warp pad, Steven extended his arms out and closed his eyes, concentrating.

"Pad, take me to the Crystal Gems." Nothing. "Please?" Still nothing. "_Pretty_ please?" No go.

Growing agitated, Steven stomped his foot like a petulant child and huffed.

"You _never _want to work when I want you to! What do I have to do, _ask_ to be taken somewhere?" Ah, now _there_ was an idea! "Pad, can you please take me to the Crystal Gems?"

When nothing happened, Steven growled and plopped down on top of the warp pad, punching it lightly in the process.

"Okay, fine, let's try something else then. Let's see..." Resting his chin on his hand, Steven thought hard. His arm accidentally brushed against his gem, breaking him from his thoughts momentarily as a new thought occurred to him. _'There's an idea!'_

Positioning himself so that he was laying on his front with him gem against the warp pad, he repeated his request. The warp pad did not so much as even glow.

Angry, and feeling defeated, Steven stood up and threw his hands up in the air, a look of irritation on his face.

"Oh come on! What do I have to say to get you to work? 'Take me to a place _mom_ used to visit'? Because I don't think-" Steven's rant was cut off abruptly as the warp pad activated in a blinding flash of light, transporting him _somewhere_.

He laughed and cheered as he was lifted away by the stream, unknowingly traveling further and further away from Earth.

-TAoLaF-

In an overgrown garden several light years away from Earth, surrounded by crumbling pillars of stone, stood a lone gem, looking just as worn and dirty as the rest of the place. Her once bright pink attire now faded, a winning smile she once adorned flipped upside down into a frown, and her whole body covered in dirt and grime, she was the perfect visual of "pathetic".

Underneath her exterior, however, was a gem who was incredibly lonely, as the feeling of abandonment started to slowly settle in. However, she continued to stare at the worn warp pad, just as she had done for the past six thousand years, in hopes of seeing it activate once more. For her best friend to reappear so that she could win their game and get back to playing like they used to. She _was _getting a bit tired of this game, after all.

Sighing, the gem looked down at her interlaced hands with a despondent look on her face as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She _really_ did not want to be alone anymore, but she refused to stop playing the game, so she knew she was stuck here. Stuck there in the garden, surrounded by dead plants and broken stone. She felt like she had become part of the architecture by this point.

_'What if I just... stopped playing? No, no, I won't lose! She'll be so disappointed in me if I quit, but it's been so long, what if she forgot about me? No, she couldn't have, what am I thinking? Maybe something happened to delay her? Yeah, that's it! She's just been delayed is all.'_

Her thoughts kept spinning around in her head in this fashion, just as they had for the past few thousand years. She was so lost in her thoughts that the gem nearly missed the vine-covered warp pad activating for the first time in millennia.

Her eyes widened as the '_shing_' of the warp pad resonated in her ears, a hope blossoming in her chest. If she had an actual heart, it would be beating so fast that it would feel like it was trying to jump out of her body.

Alas, her hope was crushed faster than a guilty rebel gem as instead of the one gem she was waiting for, a weird creature she had never seen before appeared with a big "oof" as it fell face first on to the warp pad.

Definitely not the most... _graceful _landing she had ever seen. It almost tore a giggle from her. Almost.

-TAoLaF-

Steven slowly stood up from his rather, _disgraceful_, landing, and dusted himself off before panning his eyes around the area he had accidentally warped to, not even noticing the little pink gem staring at him with wide, curious eyes at first. He scratched his head in confusion as he studied the place.

"Why did it warp me here? And where is 'here' anyway?" The place looked completely abandoned and dead, the complete opposite of Earth. The whole area was deathly silent, too, which set him on edge in a way that he had never felt before. It sent a shiver down his spine and he almost begged the warp pad to send him back home immediately if not for the tiny, cracked voice that answered him in the dead silence.

"The garden..." Steven's head immediately swiveled towards where the sound came from, finally noticing the figure standing there staring at him. How had he missed _that_ the first time?

"Huh?" Came his eloquent reply.

"You're in the garden, Pink Diamond's garden." Steven just blinked at that, not recognizing the name. It sounded important in some way, though. Taking a chance, he slowly stepped towards the unknown figure, watching as her eyes widened even more as he crept closer. He stopped a couple of feet in front of her and tilted his head up and to the side a bit in curiosity.

"I've never heard of Pink Diamond," her sharp intake of breath startled him a bit, but he pressed on with a smile, "but what's _your_ name? Mine's Steven! Steven Universe!"

"My name's... Spinel." Spinel was quite perplexed at this point. What kind of gem name was Steven Universe? Strangely, though she did not know this creature, the name suited it somehow. She looked on as stars appeared in the creature's eyes and a look of wonder appeared on its face. It made her rather uncomfortable as no one had ever looked at her in that way before, not even Pink.

"Spinel," just the way the creature said her name sent a pleasant shiver through her body, "that's such a pretty name!" Okay, she was definitely blushing up a storm now, and she turned her head away in embarrassment. No one had ever complimented her before; it was such an odd, yet warming, feeling.

"It's just my gem name, it's nothing special." The loud gasp from the creature nearly made her jump in fright, almost losing her the game. Wild eyes turned to stare at the creature, who had its hands on its face and an awed look on its face as it stared at her in the face, and then finally at the pink, heart-shaped gem settled on her chest.

"You're a gem?! I'm a gem too! Well, half gem, on my mom's side," Steven said, lifting up his shirt to expose the gem nestled in the spot where his bellybutton would be if he had one. He noticed Spinel staring at it before she reached up with a hand to gently touch her own gem, still staring at Steven's.

"It's... _pink_," she stated rather quietly, though Steven still heard her through the dead silence of the garden.

"Yeah, _both_ of our gems are pink, how cool is that?" Steven responded rather happily.

"Cool..." she parroted, stretching out an arm towards Steven's gem, wanting to touch it for some odd reason, though she quickly retracted her hand as if burned when she realized what she was doing. She looked down in embarrassment but gasped in surprise when Steven gently took her hand and guided it back towards his gem with a small smile.

"You can touch it if you want, I don't mind." Did this creature, gem, half gem, or whatever it was, not understand the trust it was placing in her? To allow someone to touch your gem was the ultimate showing of trust, for that was the core of a gem's being. Giving another gem permission to touch your own gem was a way to say 'I trust you not to crack or shatter me'. And now that Spinel thought about it...

Pink _never_ let her touch her gem. Spinel had let Pink touch hers plenty of times, but she was never allowed to do the same in return. Perhaps it was because of her status and she was not allowed to, but...

Shaking her head minutely to rid of her thoughts, she was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She had never before been allowed to touch someone else's gem in such trust, even if this gem was some weird hybrid with a creature she had never seen before. Hand trembling, she lightly stroked Steven's gem, causing him to gasp at the sensation. She drew her hand back at his gasp. Did she do something wrong? Did the creature change its mind? Or did-

"I didn't know I could feel anything in my gem!" Oh, so that was it. Apparently no one had ever touched its gem before if it was shocked at such a simple touch.

"Only if another gem touches it," she murmured, giving a simple answer, but feeling ecstatic to finally be trusted enough to touch another's gem. Even if it _was_ someone she did not really know.

"Can I... touch yours?" Spinel stared at the creature in shock at its shy request. "I mean, you don't have to let me if you don't want to, I'm just cur-"

"Yes."

"Huh?" Steven said stupidly.

"I said yes, you can touch my gem," Spinel said, rather nervously. She just hoped she was not making a mistake.

Excited, Steven reached up an arm and softly ran his fingers over the heart-shaped gem, feeling fascinated by all of its facets and smooth surface. He could see and feel Spinel shudder at his gentle ministrations.

It had been _so_ long since anyone had touched her in such an affectionate way that Spinel almost cried out in distress when the creature removed its hand, but she held it in.

"Wow, thanks! The gems have _never_ let me touch theirs." Whatever gems this creature was living with must not trust him in the slightest. She felt almost... giddy at the fact that she was the first gem in its life to show it trust. Why? She did not know, but she was.

Steven suddenly sighed, setting Spinel on edge at his forlorn countenance.

"It's been fun meeting you, but I should get home. The gems are probably worried about me. But, I'll stop by again, soon, okay?" Steven said with a small smile, turning around and started walking back towards the warp pad. His walk was halted, however, as a hand grabbed on to one of his arms, then preceded to _wrap_ itself around it like a boa constrictor.

Shocked, Steven whipped around to see that Spinel had stretched out her entire left arm what must have been several feet.

"Whoa," he mumbled, absolutely amazed. Not even Amethyst could achieve something like that so easily and without effort. The panicked look on Spinel's face made him pause, however.

"Please, don't leave me! I- I _can't_-!" She could not spit out the words, but Spinel could _not_ be alone again, she just could not! The sheer fear and panic that coursed through her body caused her to have a mental breakdown and she started sobbing.

After finally getting to talk to and be around someone in over six thousand years, the silence and loneliness would surely drive her mad. She _refused_ to deal with that again.

Steven looked at Spinel in great concern. He had no idea him wanting to leave would upset her this much, but regardless, he _had_ to get home at some point.

"Bu- but I-" Steven stuttered, feeling helpless as he stared at the crying gem. Her head was down, but she kept her vice-like grip on his arm, preventing him from even moving.

Suddenly, he had an idea, and a big grin stretched across his face.

"Hey, why don't you come back home with me?" Her head snapped up so fast that Steven would have been worried she broke her neck if she were a human. The utter look of surprise and shock on her face would have made him burst out laughing if not for the tears streaming down her face.

"Wha- what?" Did she hear this creature right? It wanted her to leave the garden? No, that could not _possibly_ be what she heard. Not even _Pink _wanted her to leave this place, why would some half-gem creature she just met want her to?

"Come back to Earth with me, Spinel," he said, starting towards her once more. She unwrapped her arm from his as he approached, which Steven was thankful for as she was unintentionally cutting off the blood flow in his arm and making it go numb. He stopped a couple of feet in front of the pink gem, who was still staring at him as though she could not believe he was there in the first place.

He held his right hand out with a grin on his face and waited, but his grin faded when she looked away with a morose look.

"I- I can't." Steven blinked in confusion and lowered his arm.

"But... why not?" He asked, bemused. Certainly she did not want to stay in this place, did she? He did not think even _Amethyst_ would want to live here, and he had seen her room before. Everything was so dead and lifeless that is was bringing _his_ mood down the longer he stayed.

She seemed a bit reluctant to answer, but Steven waited patiently until she was ready to explain. His patience finally gave him the explanation he waited for. She kept her head turned to the side and refused to look at him, though.

"Because... it's a game Pink and I are playing. I'm supposed to wait here for her to return. She's left me here before, but she always returned, so I guess she wanted to make a game out of it," Spinel explained, sighing a bit as she said under her breath so that Steven would not hear her, "but she's never been gone this long before."

Lifting an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side, the bewilderment was clear in Steven's voice.

"A... game?" Steven was quite concerned. To him, this sounded straight up like tying your dog to a tree and promising to come back, only to never return. Just to get rid of it and out of your life. Whoever this Pink Diamond person was, Steven was ready to dislike her for her actions alone. He would give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being, however. He was not one to dislike someone without just cause, after all.

"Games are meant to be fun; are you having fun with this game, Spinel?" That was the question, was it not? A stricken look crossed Spinel's face as she processed the creature's question. Oh she knew the answer right away, but she did not want to even _think_ about it, let alone answer with it. However, she had no choice at this point.

"N- no," she whispered so quietly that Steven had to strain to hear her.

"Huh?"

"I said no." Spinel gritted her teeth and shut her eyes as she said that a bit louder, upset over having to face the truth that she did _not _enjoy this game anymore. She was just tired; so, _so_, tired. She wanted to leave the garden and get away from it forever.

Leave...

Turning her head to look at the creature, he once again had his hand out and a grin on his face. It was as if it knew her thoughts somehow.

"Then come with me." Spinel knew she was beat. Then again, she was probably beat six thousand years ago when she was left here in the first place.

Hesitantly, after staring at Steven's hand for several seconds, she reached out towards it and grasped on to it gently, this action causing Steven to beam brightly, and her metaphorical heart to get caught in her throat.

Tightening his hold on her hand ever so slightly, Steven took a step backwards towards the warp pad, still facing Spinel, as he waited for her to take a step forward.

Nervously, Spinel silently swallowed, and, for the first time in six thousand years, took a step.

End Chapter 1


	2. Learning to Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy chapter 2.

The sound of the warp pad's_ 'shing' _reverberated throughout the temple and house as Steven and Spinel arrived, Steven thankfully avoiding a face-plant on the warp pad this time; holding on to Spinel's hand the entire time had been his saving grace.

Spinel looked around in wide-eyed wonder at all the new things she had never seen before. For most of her existence, she stayed in the garden, having only seen bits and pieces of Homeworld from time to time. She learned everything she knew from Pink, the only gem she ever interacted with after she emerged, aside from the few gems that she had passed on Homeworld on her way to the garden. Though now that she remembered, they tended to keep several mreevets away from her as she walked by, despite her rather overly friendly behavior and attitude.

She had not really paid much attention to it at the time, but they gave her disgusted looks, though she was too naive at the time to really-

"Welcome to Beach City!" Steven's loud declaration made her jump and she released a quiet 'eep' as she was ripped out of her thoughts.

"Well, not really Beach City, this is just my house, but it's a part of Beach City! There's so many cool things to show you, and so many new people to introduce you to! Oh! I have to show you all the best places to eat! We'll go to Funland, the arcade-" Spinel just stared down at Steven as it rambled on and on about all the places it would take her, though she had no clue about any of the things it was listing off. "- and that's not even naming all of the cool things we could go to _outside_ of Beach City! Like- hmm..." Spinel flushed a bit as Steven stopped talking and studied her rather intensely.

_'Why is it staring at me like that?'_

"Maybe we should get you cleaned up first. Come on!" Steven said, pulling her with him as he stepped off the warp pad and towards his bathroom. He opened the door and flipped on the lights. He heard Spinel gasp from behind him as he led her inside. Flipping down the toilet seat lid, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down gently to sit on it.

"Sit here for a sec while I get the bathtub ready."

_'The what ready?' _Insanely curious, she stretched her head over to the odd rectangle thing that the creature was hovering over. It was humming to itself as it turned some weird knobs and suddenly, _water_ rushed out of the long nose-like thing. She gasped loudly in surprise, causing Steven to look up in shock to see her head hovering over its own. It shouted, completely startled, causing her to swiftly snap her head back into place. The force of the action making her fall off of the weirdly shaped chair with a loud squeal.

She attempted to grab on to something on her way down out of instinct, only managing to snag something soft and fluffy that ended on top of her head. Now blinded by some fluffy white thing, she did not realize her other hand had knocked over something much harder that ended up hitting her on top of her head before clattering to the floor.

It was so silent in the bathroom that you could hear a pin drop, the only sound being the quiet hum of the lights overhead.

Spinel finally let out of distressed whimper as everything processed. She felt absolutely pathetic! Not to mention embarrassed. _'Oh stars, I've never been this uncoordinated before. What's wrong with me?'_

The fluffy thing was suddenly and gently removed from her head, and the pink gem looked up into Steven's caring eyes as it stared down at her. She averted her eyes towards the floor, feeling ashamed.

"Spinel, are you okay?" Steven asked, worried. He had wanted to laugh at the whole situation. It was like something that came straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, but her little whimper had put a stopper in that immediately.

The little nod she gave him certainly did not convince him in the slightest, but he decided to let it go for the time being. He just hoped she would open up a bit more, she was so quiet that it was quite discerning. The only other gem he knew who like this was Garnet, but she always talked at some point, even if it was just a few words here and there. She liked being _mysterious_ in that way. Spinel, he had a feeling, was nothing like that. She had not said two words since they arrived in his house, and it unnerved him somewhat.

"Well... okay. The bath is ready now, c'mon. Wait, let me get these things off first," Steven exclaimed as she went to stand up, reaching down and pulled off the remaining dead vines that were still wrapped around Spinel's feet and legs. He tossed them into the trash can that sat next to the toilet and dusted off his hands in a dramatic way, a little grin on his face.

"There, all better," he stated as he helped Spinel to her feet and lead her over to the tub. Thankfully he had turned off the water before he went over to help his new gem friend, otherwise it would have gotten too full.

"Your royal bath awaits, my queen," Steven dramatically said with a little bow, hoping to get her to laugh, to smile, do _anything_ besides just stare at him. Though this time she stared at him as though he were crazy. No reaction other than that, sadly. Well, he tried.

Looking away from the crazy creature, Spinel stared into the so-named "tub" feeling confused. It reminded her of a small pond in a way, but this thing clearly was not a pond and she could not swim in it, so what was she supposed to do? What was a "bath" anyway?

Seeing her look confused, Steven helped to explain.

"Just step in and sit down, but carefully, you don't want to slip and fall. I did that once and it _hurt_, really bad."

Taking its advice, Spinel slowly stepped in one foot at a time, shuddering as the warmth of the water crept up through her body, and slowly sat down in the water, even more of its warmth seeping into her body and soothing her in a way she had never felt before. She released a little sigh as she closed her eyes, and, unbeknownst to her, a small smile appeared on her face for the first time in a _long_ time.

Steven, however, did not miss it and he grinned ecstatically. It was just a tiny smile, but it made a huge difference.

Reaching over, he grabbed a bar of soap and a washcloth, handing them to the confused gem once she opened her eyes again. She stared at the two items with knitted eyebrows, and Steven had to explain once again.

"Just lather the bar of soap into the washcloth and wash your body. Just be careful not to get it in your eyes, though, it will burn badly. You do that, and I will be right back." Turning around, Steven walked over and picked up the cup of toothbrushes that she had accidentally knocked over in her fall and set it back on to the sink. As he tried to walk out the door, though, a panicked voice cried out in alarm, causing him to whip around and look into the eyes of a terrified Spinel, who still held on to the items he gave her.

"Whe-where are you going?!" She cried, a surge of panic and fear enveloping her when she saw Steven about the leave her. "You're not leaving me, are you?!" She started hyperventilating and dropped the items in her hand into the water and clutched her head instead, moaning in distress.

Now feeling like panicking himself, Steven abandoned his plan of fetching some old bath toys of his to try and get her to play, and ran over to the distressed gem and tried to pry the hands ripping at her hair away from her head. She was a lot stronger than she looked, he learned, but eventually he managed to get her to grip his arms instead, which, in hindsight, probably was not the best idea. He winced in pain at her crushing grip, but bore through it and cupped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. The tears streaming down her face broke his heart.

"Spinel, Spinel, look at me, I'm right here. See? I'm not going anywhere, I promise," he said soothingly, mimicking similar words that he saw on a television show once since it seemed to work there. It seemed to do the trick here, too, as her breathing calmed down and her grip on his arms loosened a bit. She was still shaking, though.

"You... you promise? You promise you won't ever leave me?" She asked in a tiny voice, afraid of the answer.

"I promise I won't ever leave you. Cross my heart and hope to die," he said, taking his right arm back and making the crisscross motion over his chest, though there was fear on her face at what he just said and did. "It's just an expression that makes the promise stronger."

It was a weird thing to say and do for a promise, Spinel thought, but she calmed down regardless and leaned into the hand still cupping her face, blushing a bit as she nuzzled into it and sighed, smiling. She actually felt _happy_, something she never thought she would ever feel again. A spark of something else long forgotten danced through her as well, though she could not place the feeling at the moment.

-TAoLaF-

His entire face felt like it was on fire when Spinel nuzzled into his hand. It just felt so... _intimate_. He still found it adorable, however, especially since she seemed quite happy. He cleared his throat, catching her attention.

"We should, uh, get you cleaned up now," Steven stated, retrieving the soap and washcloth from the water. It was clear to him that she had no idea what to do, so he figured it would not hurt to just wash her himself. It was embarrassing, but he was thankful gems did not really have natural human anatomy, so it made it less awkward.

How he found _that _out though, he did not want to even remember.

Lathering the washcloth with soap, he started with her face, careful not to get any soap in her eyes, and worked his way down slowly, gently scrubbing away the many millennia of filth from her body. He hesitated in a couple of obvious areas, feeling flustered, but he ignored it and washed them anyway, knowing that they needed cleaned as well.

It was almost therapeutic in a way, and he relaxed the more he got into washing Spinel. Bit by bit, the bright pink and white colors she used to be appeared underneath all the dirt and grime, captivating Steven for some reason he could not explain.

Finishing washing her body, he let the dirty water drain out and grabbed the extended shower head and turned it on, making sure the water was warm, and rinsed her off. She let out a cute squeak at the sensation at first, but relaxed into it quickly enough.

Completing his rinse, Steven turned to her hair and started spraying it down, her two heart-shaped buns slowly unraveled as he ran his fingers through them. Soon enough her pink hair was laying flat against her back and Steven grabbed his shampoo, lathering and messaging it into her scalp, feeling her shiver as he did so. He had had it done to him before, so he knew what she was feeling as he massaged her head.

He washed her hair out and applied some conditioner, repeating his actions. Finally done with bathing the cute little gem before him, Steven turned off the water and helped her out of the tub.

Throughout the whole process, Spinel had been in heaven as Steven, in her mind, lavished her with love and attention. She had not even realized just how touch starved she truly was until then. Sure, it had gently touched her gem back in _that_ place, but this was her whole body construct Steven was giving its attention to. She never wanted the pleasant feelings to stop, especially when Steven massaged her scalp. Oh what a wonderful feeling!

Alas, it did stop, and she felt disappointed, but she realistically knew it would not go on forever.

"There, all clean! Now let's get you dried off," Steven said, grabbing one of his towels and swiftly dried her off as much as possible.

"Aaaannnnd done," he said, giggling as he removed the towel from her head, her hair poofing up from the static electricity. She looked like a big pink lollipop!

"Okay, let me, ha ha, fix that for you!" Still giggling, he led her over to the toilet again and had her sit facing the doorway. He grabbed the comb he never used from the sink, why he had it he did not know, and started to softly comb through her hair, being gentle so he would not hurt her. He marveled at just how silky soft her hair actually was and ran his fingers through it just as much as the comb. He never knew just how soothing it was to do this for someone else.

Getting her hair to finally lay flat, Steven proceeded to try and put her hair back up into the heart-shaped buns that she had before. Key word: _Try_. After about the fifth failed attempt, and with a lot of grumbling on his part, he decided to to just put her hair into normal ponytails. Well, pigtails, really.

"Sorry, Spinel, I couldn't get your hair back to normal. But I hope you like this just as much! Here, take a look!" Steven dragged her in front of the mirror to let her see herself. Her eyes went wide as she saw herself. She tilted her head back and forth cutely, her pigtails flopping to each side with each tilt. Steven could not help the little high-pitched squeal from himself.

It was the _cutest_ thing he had ever seen! It reminded him of those puppy videos online where they would tilt their head back and forth at some strange sound, confused by what they were hearing.

-TAoLaF-

Spinel could not help but really like what Steven did to her hair as she studied herself in the reflective surface. Sure, it was simple, but it was different and it did not remind her of her near endless loneliness from before whatsoever, so that was a plus.

Not to mention it suited her in a way that she could not put a finger on at the moment.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Steven stepped up next to her and hummed in thought.

"You're _almost _perfect," she blushed as the word 'perfect' slipped from its lips, "there's just one more thing we need to do... Ah ha!" Its loud exclamation caused her to jump in mild fright, her new pigtails standing straight up in response, and she watched as Steven pulled out a rectangle from the strange, tall, square thing and dug around in it. It soon pulled out a little bottle of whatever it was with a triumphant look on its face.

"Gem polish! Pearl always tells me to keep my gem polished so that I stay in peak form and health, or something like that, I'm not sure. She tends to use a lot of big words I don't understand." Spinel looked at her gem in the reflective surface speculatively. It _did_ look a bit dull, now that she was really looking at it. No surprise, honestly, as she had pretty much neglected herself for a long time.

She watched as Steven grabbed a smaller squared fluffy thing, a washcloth it called the thing, and put some gem polish on it. She turned to face Steven without being prompted to and it reached up and polished her gem. She shuddered as the pleasure vibrated through her entire body. This was not just Steven's finger, it was practically its whole hand rubbing at her gem. It felt _amazing_.

All too soon it was over and Steven put away the gem polish.

"There, all better!" She turned to look at herself once again and marveled at just how _shiny_ her gem was now. She reached up and slowly ran a couple of fingers over her gem, fascinated by how much smoother it was now, too.

A weird sound came from Steven and it snapped her out of her thoughts as she looked at it, feeling concerned.

Wait, concerned? When did she start feeling _that_? Oh, right, just now.

-TAoLaF-

When Steven finished yawning, he looked at Spinel to see the concern written across her face. She really did not know anything about humans, did she?

"It's okay, I'm just yawning. It means I'm tired," he explained.

"Tired?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, it means I need to sleep," he said, and watched as her eyes and face lit up in recognition at the word. "You know about sleep?"

"Yeah, I used to do it when I was bored and Pink wasn't around..." Well, at least she was talking a bit more now. That was a good sign.

"Come on then, let's both go to bed, it _is _pretty late," he stated, looking at the bathroom wall clock. Grabbing her hand, he led her out of the bathroom, just now noticing the small 'squeak squeak squeak' that accompanied each of her footsteps.

Stars, could this gem _get_ any cuter?

He walked up into his room and released her hand, grabbed his pajamas from his dresser drawer, and changed into them, not even caring if Spinel was watching him. He lived with three other gems who saw him do this on an almost daily basis, so it was no big deal to him.

Pulling back the covers, he hopped into bed and patted the available spot next to him. Spinel just blinked at him in confusion.

"Hop in, I won't bite, and there's plenty of room for both of us," he said.

"You want me to sleep next to you?" She asked, still confused.

"Sure! Unless you want to sleep on the couch? It's comfy, but not as comfy as my bed."

Oh no, no no no, she was _not _about to leave Steven's side for _one_ second. She slid into the thing called a bed and was promptly covered up in the big, soft square thing. She laid her head on the poofy cloud-rectangle and sighed in bliss. Oh this was _so_ much better than sleeping on the cold, hard ground. Why did Homeworld not have these 'beds'? Oh, right, most of gemkind did not sleep. She did not understand why, it was such a pleasant activity.

"Good night, Spinel," Steven said, drifting off into slumber. Soon, it was softly snoring away as Spinel just stared at Steven, a small smile on her face.

Feeling a bit of her old self come back, she turned on her side and wrapped her arms around the hybrid and pulled Steven close to herself, cuddling it as she nuzzled into its soft, curly hair. With a content sigh, she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to dreamland.

-TAoLaF-

Spinel giggled as she hid in some bushes, hoping that Steven and Pink would not find her. They were playing hide and seek and she had made them both 'it'. The garden was pretty big, so she knew it would take them a while to find her, if they did that is.

What must have been hours passed by, yet Spinel did not hear any noise from the two seekers. Curious, she peeked her out of the bushes and surveyed the area. Soon enough, she spotted the two of them heading towards the warp pad. Feeling alarmed, she sprang out of her hiding spot and started chasing them, calling out to them.

"Pink, Steven, where are you guys going? We haven't finished playing the game yet," Spinel said. They turned around to face her and she freaked out at their blank faces and soulless-looking eyes as they stared at her without saying a word.

"Guys...?" It suddenly went dark and Steven and Pink Diamond seemed to stretch further and further away from her. She reached out with a hand and stretched her arm towards them, but she could not reach them no matter how far she stretched. Everything spun around and Spinel gripped her head and shut her eyes, feeling confused and lost.

Then, cackling filled her ears. Opening her eyes, she stared down at Steven, who was cowering on the ground and staring up at her in sheer terror. In her hands was a scythe.

"You left me. You broke your promise!"

"N-no, I didn't mean t-"

"SHUT UP! You said you would never leave me. Well, I will make sure that _never_ happens again!" Cackling again, she raised the scythe and swung down, the scream of pain from Steven fueling her rage, and she kept swinging over and over even when the screaming stopped. She dropped the scythe once the anger, hatred, and rage was empty within her.

Looking down, she screeched in fear as she backed away from the mangled mess that used to be Steven. She fell down on the ground and scooted further away, panic overtaking her. Her back hit something solid and she looked up into the disappointed eyes of Pink Diamond.

"Look at what you did."

"No! I didn't mean to!"

"Look at what you have become, killing the only thing that truly cared for you."

"NO! You liar! _You_ cared for me, didn't you?!"

"Oh Spinel, do you really believe that? You're more naïve than I thought." Spinel watched as Pink vanished into thin air. She felt numb as she crawled over to Steven's mauled corpse and gathered it close to her and sobbed.

She looked over in the pond that was next to her and recoiled in fear at her own reflection. She truly had become a monster.

"I'm sorry, I'm _so_ sorry, please wake up Steven! PLEASE!"

-TAoLaF-

"...nel ... inel ... SPINEL, wake up!" Spinel sprung up as she woke up, panting heavily and sweating up a storm. She was shaking like a leaf.

Steven had been woken up by Spinel tossing and turning in her sleep and mumbling under her breath. He knew immediately that she was having a nightmare and spent a few minutes trying to shake her awake and calling her name. Whatever dream she was having, it had a tight grip on her, but eventually he managed to pull her from it.

Gripping her shaking hands in his own, he attempted to calm her down.

"It's okay, it was just a nightmare. Whatever you saw wasn't real, it was your mind playing tricks on you," Steven said softly, rubbing his thumbs over the top of her hands. He watched as she slowly turned towards him with wide, wild eyes before her face crumbled up and tears ran down her face. _'Uh oh...'_

With a deep sob, she launched at him and wrapped her arms around him, constricting him as she bawled into his shoulder.

"Urk...!"

"I-I'm s-s-sorry! I-I d-d-didn't me-mean to! P-pl-please do-don't l-leave me!" Steven had no clue what she apologizing for, but he guessed it had to do something with her nightmare.

Deciding to comfort her the same way his dad used to when he had nightmares, he gathered her up in his arms and sat her on his lap and slowly rocked her back and forth, whispering quiet words of comfort in her ears. She did not seem to be calming down any, however.

A sudden idea popped into his head. His dad sometimes sang to him to calm him down, so why not try it with Spinel? He cupped the back of her head and combed his fingers through her hair as he thought of something to sing. A song came to him a couple of minutes later.

_When the skies turn dark and gray_  
_And you're feeling tired and down_  
_The light you long to see across the way_  
_Doesn't want to be found_

_A love you hope to see has passed you by_  
_Sailed far across the sea_  
_And you just sit down and cry_  
_Waiting for life to hand you the key_

_But someday, somewhere, somehow_  
_You will move on, to love again_  
_That time is now_  
_When you met your new friend_

_I will be here for you_  
_Be your shining guide_  
_Stick by you through and through_  
_Help you through this crazy ride_

_I won't ever give up_  
_I won't ever give in_  
_I won't ever stop_  
_Until I see that infinite grin_

_I will always be here for you_  
_Through thick and thin_  
_And there is nothing I wouldn't do_  
_To erase all your pain_

_I will always be here_  
_And that is my promise_

Steven drifted off at the end as he noticed that Spinel had fallen back asleep. She had shifted around at some point and was now tucked under his chin.

Yawning, Steven adjusted his pillow and leaned back against the headboard, covering the two of them up with his comforter. He snuggled in, still holding on to Spinel, and fell asleep once more, hoping that they were not back to square one after this as his final thought.

End Chapter 2


	3. Start of the Day

Steven cracked his eyes open, wondering why something felt... _off_. He shifted around in his bed noticing that something, no, some_one_ was missing. Sitting up slightly, he glanced at his Cookie Cat clock and groaned slightly at seeing the time: 6:30. He flopped back down and laid an arm over his eyes.

_'It's too early. Why did I even wake up? And where's Spinel? Unless all of that was just a dream? It wouldn't surprise me, all of the good things that happen to me end up being a dream... Cookie Cats coming back, the gems letting me go on monster fighting missions, everyone in town wanting to hang out with me... I should have known better.'_

Sighing sadly, he rolled over and cocooned himself deeper into his blanket with the intention of going back to sleep. He was hoping to just sleep off his disappointment.

A small giggle made him open his eyes again and he sat up again, looking around. Seeing nothing and chalking it up to his imagination, he shrugged and laid back down. Another giggle, louder this time, made him shoot straight up.

Okay, either he was losing his mind due to the early hour, or someone was definitely in his room. He rubbed his tired eyes and sighed. There was only one person who would mess with him like this.

"Okay Amethyst, you can stop hiding now, I know it's you," he said, and waited. What sounded like a stretching balloon startled him a bit before something _pink_ and definitely not _purple_ came springing up from under his bed.

"Surprise!" Spinel shouted and tackled him in a hug, giggling like crazy.

Steven shouted in surprise, his eyes wide in shock, before a huge smile broke out on his face as he hugged her back.

"Spinel! You weren't a dream after all!"

"Well of course not silly! Why would your best friend be a dream?" Steven's stomach flipped at the term. He really had a true friend now, didn't he? He always deluded himself into thinking he had friends in town, but he knew that was not the case.

Sure, he did not really _know_ Spinel all that well yet, but he knew that would change over time. That was the best part of friendship, was it not? Learning about one another? At least Steven thought so, anyway. He never had a real friend before now to know that answer, but he was hoping he was correct.

A sudden thought occurred to Steven as he eyed the overly happy pink gem, of whom was still holding him in a hug.

"Uh, Spinel? Are you feeling okay?" He asked, feeling concerned.

"I feel fantastic! Why do you ask?" She replied, sitting back up a bit, looking down at him with a winning smile on her face. Steven blinked at her response, feeling a bit confused. He did not _really_ want to bring it up, but...

"You... don't remember last night, do you?" Steven asked reluctantly. Spinel gave a thoughtful hum and curved her arm into a loop to scratch the top of her head in thought. She squinted and stuck her tongue out, and Steven had the strange urge to poke it, but he resisted.

Spinel thought hard at Steven's question. In truth, she only remembered waking up cozy and warm in its arms and feeling _happy_. Though, in the back of her mind, she _did_ recall hearing something. It had sounded like... a song. She could not recall much about it other than the feelings it gave her; the feelings of love, hope, and safety. Huh, no wonder she woke up in such a good mood. '_Perhaps the song was just a dream, though.'_

"Nope, not really. I think I remember hearing a song? But I could have just dreamed that," she said shrugging.

_'How...?' _How did she not remember having a nightmare? Steven would always remember his for at least a couple of days before forgetting them entirely, depending on the severity. Gee, he wished _he_ had the ability to just forget he ever had them. Maybe it was a gem thing? Steven did not know, but he was a tad jealous.

"Oh, well, never mind then," he said. Suddenly, a very _human_ urge hit him and he squirmed underneath Spinel, the pressure in his lower region slowly increasing.

"Um, Spinel? Not that I mind this, but could you move, please? I need to take care of something personal," he said as kindly as he could, sweating a bit as the pressure increased. Spinel simply cocked her head to the side and studied him.

"Personal?" Steven nearly groaned at her obliviousness.

"It's a human thing, and I need to take care of it _right now_." Still confused, she yielded to its request and stood up from the bed. She stood shocked as Steven quickly got up and practically _flew_ down the stairs and into its bathroom, slamming the door behind it. _'Human?'_

Still feeling baffled, she decided to stretch herself to stand outside the door and listened in, curious as to what Steven was in such a hurry about. She heard what sounded like water hitting... water? What was that all about? The sound stopped shortly thereafter with a relieved sigh from Steven and then an even _weirder_ noise. It was a noise even Spinel could not describe. The sound was sort of like a gurgle; a rather loud gurgle.

Soon she heard the sound of running water, which was a much softer sound this time. _'Is this room all about water or something? So weird.'_ The running water stopped and the pink gem did not hear anything after that, worrying her.

"Um, Steven?" The sudden 'ack' from inside assured her Steven was alright.

"O-oh, Spinel, sorry. I'll explain later, but I'll be out in a few minutes, okay?" Assured for the time being, Spinel stood calmly outside the bathroom door as the sound of the extending nose-thing that sprayed water it used on her last night started.

Her calm lasted all of two minutes before anxiety and fear took over. She began trembling and her thoughts started going all over the place.

_'St-Steven wouldn't leave me, right? It's right on the other side of the door, it hasn't gone anywhere and left me. But what if that room has a secret escape that it can use to leave me here? No, Spinel, you're being stupid! It was happy to see you this morning, it wouldn't leave you now, would it? Unless it was all a façade? No! Stop thinking like this, you're happy now! You're supposed to be happy now! ...Right? And it made that promise, Steven wouldn't suddenly take that back! ...I hope.'_

Her thoughts continued to spiral around in this way, not even noticing as she fell to her knees and started pulling on her ponytails in her mental distress. The shock of two warm hands removing hers from her hair gently pulled her out of her whirlwind thoughts, and she looked up to see Steven staring at her with concern.

When Steven had finished showering and putting on a fresh set of clothes for the day, he was startled to see Spinel having another breakdown outside of his bathroom as he stepped outside of it. He really could not leave her alone for even ten minutes, it seemed. The whole thing concerned him greatly, to be honest. Being alone for however long she _had _been alone for in that garden had damaged her mentally. Well, hopefully he could help her overcome it in time. For now, he would try not to leave her alone for long periods of time, and by long time... he meant longer than five minutes. Ugh, he was too young to deal with all of this!

Sighing silently, he grabbed her hands and gently pulled them away from her hair and held on to them, catching her attention immediately.

"Spinel?" Steven asked softly. Her eyes widened as she snapped out of it, a wide smile stretching across her face.

"STEVEN!" She exclaimed and tackled him in a hug, sending them both to the floor in her exuberance. Steven let out a pained grunt as his back hit the ground, but he ignored the pain.

"I was only in there for ten minutes, you know," he tried to explain calmly. She let out a huff as she buried herself deeper into Steven's shoulder, soaking up as much comfort as she could.

"Ten minutes too long," she mumbled. Sure, a few minutes was nothing compared to thousands of years, but it felt just as long sometimes.

Steven sighed and smiled a bit, wrapping his arms around Spinel in return, enjoying the warmth of the hug. He never really noticed it before, but gems were _really_ warm, warmer than humans. Or it could just be a Spinel thing. He would have to test it later when the others got back from their mission at some point.

After a couple of minutes, the floor started to get rather uncomfortable, so Steven sat up as best he could with Spinel still wrapped around him. In response, she wrapped her legs around his middle and clung to him tighter, causing him to lightly blush. She was clinging to him like a big, pink, baby koala bear.

Well, at least his legs were free now. Maneuvering himself, he managed to stand up and made his way over to the couch and flopped down, causing Spinel to giggle as they bounced up a bit. With a quiet sigh, Steven untangled her from his body and sat her next to him and looked her in the eye.

"Spinel, I need to talk to you about some things, okay?" Steven started, and smiled as she tilted her head to the side in curiosity. _'She's so cute!'_

"Like what?" She asked.

"About... human things," he replied, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Her eyes widened at the word.

"Ooohhh, human! What's a human?" She asked scratching her head. She remembered it mentioned that earlier.

"I'm a human! Well, like I said before, half gem, so I'm half human too. A human is... one of the many lifeforms that live on Earth. But, unlike most, we have certain things that make us different! But we're also like other living things too, I guess?" Steven paused as he noticed Spinel's pupils go in opposite directions, a good indication that she was absolutely confused.

"Ugh, I'm not explaining this very well. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that we have customs, and one of those is the bathroom. Humans like their privacy, and we have to take care of some of our more personal needs in there _alone_." Seeing that she was still utterly lost at his explanation, he decided on a more direct approach.

"Steven needs alone time in the bathroom sometimes." Ah, that finally got through to her seems as her pupils re-aligned themselves.

"Bu-but..." She did not understand... alone time? How could anyone want to be alone? She knew what being alone meant, it was an endless void of loneliness and unhappiness, so how could anyone want to be by themselves for even a minute? If Steven wanted to be alone, that meant that _she_ would be alone and she-

"Spinel!" Steven called loudly and grasped on to her shoulders as he noticed her going into another panic episode. He sighed as she focused back on to him, still breathing heavily. Yikes. Well, at least he now understood her trigger. Just the _thought _of being alone sent her into a panic attack. He had no choice in the matter anymore, it seemed.

"Spinel, if it bothers you that much, you can come into the bathroom with me when I go in there, _but_," he paused seeing her expression change to one of hope, "you have to stay turned around at all times, okay?" Steven was absolutely mortified at this, but if it kept his friend calm he would endure through it; for her sake.

"Okie dokie! But, why?" Steven bit the inside of his cheek and shifted his eyes to the side. By this point he was blushing so much he was afraid the red would permanently stain his face. This was so humiliating. _'Oh well, she would find out eventually anyway, better to just rip the band-aid off now.'_

Steven proceeded to explain the nuances of what the bathroom was for, his face a deep red the entire time. He refused to look at Spinel as he stuttered through his explanation. She sat there with an interested look the entire time. When he finished, Steven let out a big sigh of relief.

It did not seem that Spinel was done, however. Her pigtails perked up in interest.

"Oh, so when you-" She started, but Steven immediately interrupted her.

"Nope! We're done talking about this!" He exclaimed waving his arms back and forth, a panicked look in his eyes. Her pigtails drooped back down, giving her a kicked puppy look as her face dropped. Steven felt bad, but there was only so much in a day he could take talking about embarrassing human things.

Suddenly his stomach let out a loud growl, startling Spinel as she let out a squeak.

"Wh-what was _that_?" She asked, looking around the house for the source of the strange noise. A laugh from Steven made her look back at it in astonishment. Why was it laughing? Something growled, should it not be worried?

"Spinel, that was just my stomach. I'm hungry is all," he said. She tilted her head to the side at the new words.

"Stomach? Hungry?" Steven slapped his forehead.

"Oh geez, you wouldn't know about that would you?" The only gem he saw that ate was Amethyst, and once in a while Garnet, but Pearl seemed absolutely repulsed by the idea any time it came up. Maybe Spinel would be interested in trying to eat? That would mean, though, that she would eventually end up having to... Well, he would cross that road when it happened. He had had enough with all of _that_ talk for now, thank you very much.

His eyes lit up with stars as an idea crossed his mind.

"We should have a together breakfast," he suggested with an awed expression. _'Hopefully this one won't try and kill us.'_

"A what now?" Spinel asked, utterly lost. The look on her face made Steven want to burst out laughing.

"Come on, I'll show you!" Grabbing her hand, he led her over to his kitchen and had her sit on one of the stools while he looked around for what he wanted to put together. He pulled out the waffles, found the whipped cream in the back of the fridge, and grabbed a strawberry from its plastic case, but he could not find the last ingredient that he needed.

"Aw, we're all out of popcorn. Guess I'll just have to use something else," Steven said, talking to himself as he looked through the cupboards for a substitute.

Spinel just blinked as she followed Steven's movements and actions, confused by everything it was doing. She _kind_ of knew what eating was, as Pink had partaken in the act once in a while with the fruits that grew around their garden, but Spinel had never had any interest in it. She had preferred to just watch them bloom and grow in fascination. Perhaps, however, she would give eating a chance this time. Whatever Steven was making, it smelled so _good_.

A sudden 'ding' sound caused her to jump a bit, but she had no idea where it came from. Steven showing up in front of her distracted her from her thoughts as it placed a round, shiny thing in front of her and started stacking squishy, golden round things on top of the shiny one. Steven then shook up a cylinder of some sort as a creamy white substance came out of it with, what Spinel could only describe as, a slurping noise of sorts. It was spread over the golden round things until a huge mound of it covered them. Steven then pulled out a cylinder of little brown things and opened it.

"We didn't have anymore popcorn, so I had to find something else to use. I think peanuts should work just fine," he said and sprinkled some of the nuts over his work of art. "Now, we just need the strawberry!" Sticking out his tongue and narrowing his eyes, he concentrated hard as he tried to find the _perfect_ spot for the fruit. Spinel's eyes followed his hand in wide-eyed wonder.

"There! Now it's done! Let's dig in!" Sitting down across from her after grabbing two forks, he handed one to Spinel, who took it reluctantly, staring at it as though it would attack her at any moment.

"What is this... pointy thing?" She asked, turning it this way and that as she studied it.

"It's a fork, you use it to eat, like this," Steven explained, and demonstrated how to use said fork by using it to cut into the waffles and taking a bite. He hummed in pleasure as he bit into it. He had never gotten a chance to eat the last together breakfast he had made for him and the gems, so Steven did not know what to expect, but it was delicious!

Still staring at the fork, she glanced at Steven and decided to copy its actions. Shifting the utensil into what she deemed an appropriate position in her hand, she cut into the soft golden things, making sure to get some of the white and brown stuff with it, and brought it up to her face. Looking over at Steven, of whom was giving her a thumbs up, and feeling reassured, she opened her mouth and bit down on the piece of food.

"Mmm mmpphhh...!" Her eyes widened comically as a rush of sweet and salty hit her tongue and her world exploded into a burst of color.

She sat there a moment not moving an inch, fork still in her mouth and eyes wide. Steven was a little concerned.

"Uh, Spinel? Are you alright?" He asked. Did she not like it or something? It would make sense since she probably had never eaten before. She eventually responded, however.

"That was the best thing ever," she whispered before diving back in and stuffing her face full of the food in front of her, her cheeks continuing to expand as she shoveled more in.

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down Spinel! You'll choke!" Steven exclaimed worried for his pink friend. He was glad she enjoyed the food, but not at the expense of her choking on it! "Chew and swallow what you already ate, please, then you can have more." Wow, now he was starting to sound like his dad. Or Pearl. Or maybe both.

Spinel followed its directions, and after a couple of minutes managed to swallow everything she had stuffed into her mouth. She had a sheepish look on her face as she looked at Steven and apologized.

"Sorry, it was just so good I couldn't resist," she said, rubbing her arm in embarrassment. Steven just chuckled as he took another bite of the breakfast.

"It's okay, just be careful." With that, they continued eating in blissful silence, until the last bite of the food was left on the plate; it was the strawberry. Staring at it, then staring at each other, Spinel gave a challenging smirk to Steven, whom returned it.

With forks raised, and still smirking at each other, they attacked the strawberry with vigor, each trying to pull it towards their own side. Neither side was giving in, and eventually the poor strawberry could take it no more and tore in half over the friendly struggle. They stared down at the now broken piece of fruit in shock before bursting out laughing and eating their respective pieces.

They sat there for a while, still giggling here and there, as they let their food digest a bit. After a few minutes, Steven stood up and took the plate and forks over to the sink; Spinel following him as she stood by his side and watched as he washed the dishes, whistling as he did so.

"There, all clean," he stated as he set them out to dry. He dried his hands off and looked over at the clock on the wall, his eyes lighting up in excitement. It was a little past eight in the morning, which meant most everything in town was open now.

"Come on, let's go have a fun day today!" Steven said excitedly, and grabbed Spinel's hand, pulling her along as he ran out of his house.

Spinel grinned quite happily and laughed as she was dragged from Steven's house. Fun? That was right up her alley! She was _made_ for fun and games, after all. She could not wait for the fun to begin!

And all with her new best friend too.


	4. Fun Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man I am so sorry for the huge delay. Life and lack of writing muse got in the way but here it is! Enjoy.

On their way into town, Steven decided to explain everything around them to Spinel, who seemed curious by all of the new sights.

"So, this is the ocean. It's like a big pond filled with all kinds of different life, but it's not really safe to drink. I tried it once when I was younger, I don't recommend it. It's really fun to play in though! But we can do that later. And this squishy stuff we're walking on is sand, which makes up most of Earth's beaches. We can have fun with it too! And that over there is-" Spinel listened, enraptured by everything Steven was saying. She particularly liked the idea of being able to play in everything it was pointing out to her. She could not wait until they did.

Steven talked to her the entire way into, what was it called again? Beach City, right. It stopped talking when they got in front of a... building, was it? It was pretty small and had this huge round thing on top of it that had Spinel fascinated.

"This is the Big Donut where they serve the best food in the world - donuts!" Steven said, sweeping his arm as if showing her something far more impressive. She just continued staring at the fake one on top of the building, however.

"Is that what that big thing is?" She asked, pointing at the roof.

"Yep! Well, sort of, it's not rea-" he started, before being interrupted.

"Can I have it?!" Spinel exclaimed, excited, and jumped up and down, her feet squeaking loudly with each land. Steven chuckled nervously.

"Uh, sorry, but that's just a prop for the store, we can't eat it," he said, and her excited demeanor stopped instantly, a sad look crossing her face.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, but don't worry, we can get smaller versions inside. Come on," Steven stated and pulled her inside, the bell above the door chiming to signal their arrival. The two teens at the front were distracted from their conversation at the duo's entrance.

"Oh, hey, Steven, you're here bright and early today. Who's your friend, by the way?" The short, yellow-haired human asked. The tall, lanky orange-haired human just snorted and turned away, grumbling "Steven" derisively under its breath.

Feeling somewhat scared and shy at meeting two new humans, Spinel dived behind Steven and hid, clasping on to its arm as she peeked over its shoulder, eyeing the two humans with wariness.

"Spinel, it's okay, they won't hurt you, they're friends," Steven whispered reassuringly, but she refused to budge, tightening her grip on his arm instead. "Sorry guys, she's feeling shy, I think, but this is Spinel, she's my new friend," Steven said out loud. "Spinel, this is Lars and Sadie, they help run the Big Donut."

"Hey, it's alright, we don't bite, I promise," Sadie said, leaning on the counter with a tired smile. Lars just snorted.

"Speak for yourself," he mumbled under his breath.

Looking back and forth between the two humans, and deeming them safe, Spinel stepped out from behind Steven, though she instantly glued herself to the hybrid's side and did not let go of its arm, especially once she saw the look the "Lars" human was giving her. She did not like it one bit.

"Hey Steven, she's kind of cute, you mind if I take her out for a... spin, heh," Lars said with a lewd look and a small laugh at his own joke. Sadie turned to glare at her coworker while Steven somewhat stepped protectively in front of Spinel out of instinct.

"Lars! Don't be hitting on Steven's friend!"

"I can do what I want to, Sadie!"

"No you can't, that's just rude and besides-"

Steven and Spinel watched the two as they continued to argue, their heads going back and forth as though they were watching a tennis match.

Spinel had no idea what being "hit on" meant. Was it some sort of game? Why was the short yellow-haired human, Sadie if she remembered, so upset about it? Did the tall, lanky human not play the game right? Yes, that must be it! It never hit her to begin with, so perhaps she had to show... Lars, how to play it right.

"Oooh, hit on, my turn," Spinel said with joy, enlarging her fist and coiling her arm up.

"Huh?" Lars said, interrupting his argument with Sadie, and turned to look at the source of the new voice, only to see a huge pink fist flying towards his face. The next thing he knew was pain, and suddenly he was flying into the glass cases behind him, shattering them, and sending glass and donuts everywhere.

"LARS!" Sadie shouted in worry as she knelt down beside him as he groaned in pain.

Feeling the need to get the heck out of there, right now, Steven grabbed Spinel's hand and ran out of the store, the pink gem giggling behind him the entire time. 'We can get donuts later, much later.'

"That was fun, Steven. I won the game! Can we do that again?" Getting far enough away from the scene of the crime, Steven stopped and bent over, panting. Composing himself, he straightened and looked at Spinel in exasperation.

"Spinel, you can't just go and hit people like that, you can really hurt them!" Steven lightly scolded, making sure not to raise his voice. She still looked a bit sad, however. Her pigtails drooped as she grabbed her arm.

"I-I thought we were playing a game..." Steven sighed at her response.

"Lars can be a bit of a jerk, but even he doesn't deserve to be punched. And I don't think he was playing a game." Whatever he had been doing really upset Sadie and it made him twitch in aggravation for some odd reason. He saw Spinel knit her eyebrows in confusion and tilt her head to the side. He would never get over just how cute she looked when she did that.

"What's a 'he'?" She asked and Steven slapped his forehead. Right, from what he knew by now, gems all went by female pronouns, they would not know what the male pronouns were unless they spent a lot of time on Earth. Spinel had only been on Earth for less than a day. Safe to say, he had a lot more explaining to do.

"It's what human males go by rather than 'she', which is what human females go by. Well, not everyone goes by those, but a lot of people do. I go by he and him, and so does Lars," he explained, making it short and sweet. Hopefully she understood because he did not know if he could explain it any better than that or any shorter than that.

"Oh, okay, I think I understand," Spinel said. She did not really know what a female or male really was, but she assumed it was a human thing. Strange, though, that human females went by the same pronouns as gems, but that made it easier at least.

Feeling relieved, he grabbed her hand again, much to Spinel's joy, and started walking, a destination in mind.

"Come on, let me introduce you to my dad. He's gonna love you, I just know it!" Steven exclaimed. 'Well, hopefully this won't go wrong.'

"What's a dad?" Spinel asked, and Steven groaned internally. Well, he would have to get used to this, he supposed. He explained it the best he could as they walked.

They arrived in front of a different building shortly after, and Spinel saw another human lounging in the front of it in some sort of rectangular contraption. It was, er, he was... this human was another male, right? He was rather stocky with a lot of hair on his face and down his back, but not so much on the top of his head. That was rather odd, if she was being honest. Humans were weird. Why have hair on your face but not your head? Also, what the heck was an 'It's-A-Wash'? She was broken from her observations when Steven started talking.

"Dad! Dad, dad, dad!" Steven said excitedly, waving to Greg with his free hand. His dad cracked open an eye, interrupted from his morning nap. A grin spread across his face as he looked at his son.

"Hey Schtu-ball, what are you doing here so early?" Greg asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He turned to notice the very pink person standing next to his son whom was latched on to his hand, and looking quite nervous. He had to do a double take when he saw what was clearly a gem situated in the middle of her chest; a unique one in the shape of a heart. Greg had only ever met four, well, technically five, gems in his whole life so far and this one seemed rather different.

"I came to introduce you to Spinel, she's my new best friend! Spinel, this is my dad," Steven said, introducing them, though once again Spinel dove behind him in fear as Greg came towards them. Greg saw this and stopped short, relaxing his posture and put on a friendly facebe. 'She's just as shy as a child.'

"Hey kiddo, I ain't gonna hurt you," he stated.

"Yeah, dad's cool! He's the best dad in the world!"

"W-well, I don't know about that, Steven," Greg said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Deeming it safe, because Steven said so, Spinel stepped out from around the pre-teen and approached Greg a bit hesitantly. She stopped shortly in front of him and he held out his hand with a smile, much to her confusion. When she did not do whatever it was he wanted her to do, his smile dropped in to a confused frown, making her feel like she was dumb for not knowing what Steven's dad wanted.

"Oh, dad just wants to shake your hand. It's how humans say hello," Steven explained as he saw the downhearted look on her face.

Perking back up, Spinel responded with an "oh, gotcha," before grabbing Greg's hand with both of hers, much to his confusion, and started shaking him with all of her might.

"A-a-a-h-h-h, Ss-t-tt-ee-v-eee-nn...! H-hh-h-e-ee-l-pp!" Greg cried out as he was lifted off the ground by his right arm and shaken with such force the whole world blurred before him.

"Ah! Spinel, stop! You're hurting him!" Steven shouted in a panic, causing the pink gem to instantly stop shaking Greg, much to the older human's relief.

"Okay, now put him down gently," Steven instructed, motioning with his hands. She sat Greg down on the ground on his feet, and he immediately fell to the ground, groaning, and grabbed his head as the world kept spinning around him. Steven rushed over and knelt next to him, grabbing his shoulders. "Dad, are you okay?!"

"I will be, just... just give me a few minutes," Greg responded, trying not to throw up.

"Did... Did I do something bad?" The small voice caused Steven to whip his head up and look at Spinel, the distraught look on her face and the tears gathering in her eyes made his heart hurt. He knew she did not mean anything bad, the naive gem just did not know better.

Standing up after reassuring himself that his dad would be alright, he walked over to his new gem friend and hugged her, resting his forehead on her shoulder. He felt her wrap her arms around him in return as she hid her face in his curls.

"It's okay... You didn't do anything bad, I promise." Spinel tightened her grip in response, still feeling awful for potentially injuring someone Steven obviously cared deeply about. How did she not do anything bad when Greg looked like he was in pain? But if Steven said she did not do anything terrible, then she did not.

Trust in Steven. Believe in Steven. Steven was never going to be wrong.

When the world stopped spinning and he was no longer feeling as though he was about to hurl, Greg looked up to see Steven comforting Spinel in a rather close hug. It was definitely a heartwarming scene, but Greg could not help but feel as though he was looking at his future daughter-in-law. Or would that be gem-in-law? Whatever it was, it seemed as though his and Rose's story would be played out again; this time by different actors with a slightly different story. He just hoped they had a better ending, if they do end up together.

Finally feeling like he could stand, Greg lifted himself off the ground carefully, grunting with the effort. 'I'm getting too old for this.' Standing, he dusted off his jeans as he watched the pair in front of him separate, though Spinel seemed reluctant to do so. He smiled as Steven wiped a tear off of Spinel's cheek with such tenderness that it was almost too adorable. If Greg already knew they were not dating and had literally just met, from what he could tell, he would have guessed they were already together.

If the two of them did not end up together, he swore he would cut off what was left of his hair. He still had some concerns, however...

"Hold out your hand," Steven asked softly, and Spinel did so, a little bit confused. Steven grasped her hand and gently, but firmly, gave her a handshake. "There, that's a handshake."

"Ooohhh," Spinel responded, still feeling a bit ashamed and now embarrassed. She did not get the point of this human gesture, but it was so simple that she should have understood it from the start.

They were interrupted by Greg clearing his throat.

"Uh, Steven, mind if I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yeah, sure, dad," Steven said and started towards the older man, but stopped before he got too far and pulled out his phone. "Wait, Spinel, here- you can play with my phone while I talk to my dad." He quickly showed her the games he had and how to get on the internet, not realizing how bad of an idea that really was. She took the phone with gusto and immediately began playing around on it, fascinated by the simple, yet complicated human device.

Getting back to Greg, he had them walk a bit away from Spinel, who was completely engrossed in whatever she was seeing on the phone, and turned around to keep their conversation private.

"Hey, are you sure it's a good idea to keep this gem around, Steven?" The question raised Steven's hackles a bit, but he kept calm.

"What do you mean?" Steven asked in a deadpan.

"It's just, you barely know her, what if she does something..." Greg trailed off.

"Does what?"

"Something terrible!" Greg knew they must have become close from what he saw earlier, but he just wanted Steven to be safe. He knew what gems were capable of in some way, and while this one seemed innocent and harmless, he just was not sure.

Steven narrowed his eyes. He was not mad at his dad, but this protective nature of his that seemed to have bubbled to the surface recently, reared its head.

"She hasn't done anything intentionally awful, dad. She's just ignorant is all... It's why I'm teaching her. I'm her friend now, I'm not just going to throw her away like that!" The hybrid hissed under his breath.

"I know, Steven, I know, I'm just worried is all. You don't know the gems like I do; what they are truly capable of."

"Well, I would if everyone would tell me!" Greg sighed at that and ran a hand down his face.

"It's not my place to tell you, son. Besides, I don't know everything about the gems, just little bits here and there. Your mother... Well, she often kept secrets from everyone, including me. No, especially me. I only know what I know now from just observing them and being around them for so long."

Steven just huffed then sighed as he calmed down, realizing how snappish he got with his dad over nothing.

"Sorry, dad, I didn't mean to act like that. I don't know what's wrong with me... I've just felt this urge to protect her since I found her, and I don't know why," he explained, crossing his arms and looking away. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, Steven looked back up to see his dad smiling at him.

"It's alright Steven, and I'm sorry too, for doubting your judgement. This protective thing you have for her might be because of some gem stuff, but I'm no expert on that obviously. Just be careful, alright? Promise your old man that, for the sake of my old heart," Greg said with a bit of joking in his voice at his last sentence. Steven chuckled a little at that.

"Dad, you're not that old!"

"Well, it certainly feels like it," Greg responded as he cracked his back. He looked over at the pink gem, who was quite engrossed in whatever she was watching on his son's phone; her face nearly mashed into the screen as she held it up close to her face, eyes wide in fascination.

"Might want to go pull your friend from your phone there, bud, she seems to be a bit too into it," Greg stated with amusement in his voice.

"Huh?" Steven said stupidly, whipping his head to look over at Spinel. "Oh, right, we... should probably get going anyway. See ya, dad!" He walked away, but returned a second later to quickly hug his dad before walking away again.

The hybrid stepped up to his new friend and started pulling her along by her arm as he began heading in the direction of the pier, reluctant to part her from whatever she was so interested in. Thankfully, she seemed to come back to awareness on her own as she pulled her head away from the phone of her own accord, blinking rapidly.

"Hey, Steven?" Spinel started.

"Yeah?"

"I found this amazing... something of humans. I don't know what it is they are doing, but I like it for some reason. They look like they are having fun!" She exclaimed, feeling excited.

"Huh, here, let me see," Steven said, holding out his free hand for his phone, which Spinel handed over without hesitation.

He instantly regretted ever letting Spinel touch his phone. His entire face, no, his body, heated up like a furnace as he set eyes on what was clearly two humans making scripted love to each other.

He was no idiot, he had come across this on his own before... Porn. Porn! Spinel had somehow come across porn! Not only that, but the fake stuff as well! How, what?

"S-Spinel, how did you find this?" Steven asked in a high pitched voice, his entire face red in embarrassment.

"Oh, I dunno... I wanted to know more about humans, and I ended finding that. Cool, huh? You wanna try it? It looks really fun!" Spinel exclaimed, rocking back and forth on her heels in excitement, causing them to squeak.

Steven wished he could die right on the spot then and there. Did she just seriously ask him to have...? She had no idea what she was asking, of course, but still. No, no no no, he was not going to deal with this right now, and maybe not ever! Last thing he wanted to explain to a naïve gem was what sex was, something even he did not fully understand yet.

Steven cleared his throat the best he could so as not to sound hoarse in his answer.

"U-uh, S-Spinel, I will explain later, but h-how about we go to the arcade for now? It's got all kinds of fun games we can play," Steven stuttered out. Thankfully, that seemed to easily distract the pink gem from her curiosity about human copulation as her eyes widened and a bright grin spread across her face.

"Games and fun? What are we waiting for? Lead the way!" Steven let out a deep relieved sigh as he grabbed Spinel by the hand to lead her to Funland Arcade.

Discreetly, while she was distracted by skipping and humming merrily, something he found adorable, Steven went to the home screen on his browser and deleted his entire browsing history.

No need for anyone to find that on his phone, after all. Least of all his dad, and Steven shuddered in fear of what he would say if he found that on his son's phone.

He was not keen on finding out.

-TAoLaF-

"Here we are, Funland Arcade!" Steven declared as the two of them approached the sounds of electronic games buzzing and beeping. "Welcome to a wonderland of funtronic gameventions!"

Spinel stared wide-eyed into the building as excitement crept up into her whole being. She did not even notice she began to vibrate with energy as she glanced from one item to another; not knowing exactly what "funtronic gameventions" were, but knowing they were probably fun.

"Come on," Steven said, breaking Spinel from her stupor as he pulled her along and into the building. "You're gonna love this place, I promise!"

They first headed over to what Spinel could only describe as a "platform of slopes" that had holes at the top of them. She tilted her head to the side as she studied them, curious as to what they were and why Steven had come over here first.

"This is skee ball, it's a fun and easy game for arcade beginners. Let me show you how to play it," Steven said, putting in a quarter, not noticing the confused look on Spinel's face as he did this.

Spinel startled as the balls came out of the slot along the side, and frowned as Steven let go of her hand. Steven, noticing this, chuckled a bit.

"Sorry, I'm gonna need my right hand for this," he stated and grabbed one of the balls. "Now, watch closely. You want to roll the ball in such a way that it lands in one of the holes. The bigger numbers are what you want to aim for, but they are the hardest to get. It's what makes it a fun challenge!" Steven explained and concentrated hard as he aimed, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he focused. Feeling he was on point, he gently let go of the ball and it rolled its way up the slope and into the thirty point hole.

"Aww, I was going for the fifty, but that's fine! Here, you try it, Spinel," Steven said and handed a ball to the pink gem, pushing her into place in front of the game.

Feeling both excited and nervous at the same time, Spinel tried to copy Steven's actions and threw the ball a little too hard, resulting in it bouncing off the side of a hole and come rolling back down the ramp. Steven grabbed it before it went rolling on to the floor, giggling like a mad man, especially after seeing the blush on his pink friend's face at her failure.

"It's okay, try again, just be gentler this time, alright?" Steven suggested, and he handed the ball back to the still blushing Spinel, who nodded and narrowed her eyes in concentration.

She was made to play games, she was not about to let this one get the best of her! Sticking her tongue out to the side, she eyed the ramp and the one hundred slot on the left side, gauging her throw. Confident she got her aim right, she tossed the ball more gently this time, both her and Steven watching with bated breath as it rolled up the ramp and directly into the one hundred slot on the left.

"Yay!" Spinel cheered as she threw her hands in the air in celebration. Steven let out a loud "whoo hoo" and hugged her tightly.

"You did it, Spinel! You still have four more balls to throw, though, so let's see if you can get them all into those top two holes," Steven said with a challenging smirk. Grabbing the next ball, she smirked back.

"Oh you're on, Steven. I was made to play games, this is easy!" Steven watched, mouth agape, as Spinel managed to get the next four balls into one of the top two one hundred holes without issue.

"Whoa," Steven mumbled as Spinel cheered at her win, watching as tickets came pouring out of the machine. She gathered them up in her arms when she spotted them, hugging them close and possessively.

"What are these?" She asked, still holding them close to her as she examined them.

"Those are tickets! You win them and turn them into prizes at the prize counter. You might have enough for something, but we can do that later, let's play some more games," Steven explained and suggested, gently grabbing her by the arm and leading her over to his next game of choice: Whacker Man Jr.

"You'll love this game, too! It's Whacker Man Jr.! You just take the hammer and try to hit as many of the little guys that pop up out of the holes. It's easy."

"But... won't that hurt them?" Spinel asked innocently, still holding on tightly to her tickets.

"Nah, they're fake, I promise. Here, I'll show you," Steven said, grabbing the attached hammer from the side after inserting a quarter and whacking one of the little guys who popped out.

"See? Your turn! Oh, wait, let me hold the tickets for you," he said, holding out his arms to accept the tickets. Spinel hesitated a bit to let go of her goodies, but realized she could trust Steven to hold them, so she relented and exchanged items, taking the hammer.

She quickly got the hang of it, even managing to predict where the next guy would pop up somehow, though she ended up being wrong a few times.

They were there for a good fifteen minutes as Spinel continued to play the game, a mass of tickets spilling out on to the floor with each guy she hit. Steven was incredibly impressed, but he knew they had to end it before the game ran out of tickets.

"Uh, Spinel? Do you want to play another game now? There's a lot more we haven't played yet," Steven stated, breaking Spinel out of her concentration as she looked over at the young hybrid.

"But I'm winning tons of tickets, I don't want to stop now!" Steven chuckled a bit.

"You'll win more, no worries! Plenty of other games give you tickets, don't you want to try them?" He asked. Spinel thought about it for all of three seconds before declaring that yes, she would like to play other games. The more games the better, after all. She quickly gathered up the tickets on the floor and followed after Steven as he lead them to another game.

She had not had this much fun in six thousand years!

-TAoLaF-

Spinel held up her prize towards the sky and giggled as she moved it to and fro. She was proud of the object she had chosen as her prize for all the tickets she won. The best part? She still had tickets left over to spare! Steven could not help being totally proud, and a little jealous, of her gaming prowess. Not that she rubbed it in his face, that was just something she did not do.

"I can't believe you chose a stuffed pink lion of all things," Steven said, smiling as he stared at her having fun with her new toy. Spinel brought the stuffed lion, her friend having to explain what lions were and that they were not actually pink in real life, to her chest and held on to it with one arm, the other reaching out to grab Steven's hand.

"Well, it sort of made me think of you, that's why I picked it," Spinel responded, holding the stuffed animal closer. Steven giggled, causing the pink gem to tilt her head a bit.

"A pink lion reminded you of me? How?" He asked, and Spinel gave a thoughtful hum.

"I dunno, it just does. Is that weird? I could take it back and exchang-" She started, but Steven stopped her by holding up a hand with a short laugh.

"No no, it's fine, Spinel, really. You can choose whatever prize you want for whatever reason, it's okay." Spinel let out a relieved sigh that she would not have to give up her toy. It was the first thing she has ever had that was her own without having to share with someone else. Thus she was not too keen on the idea of having to give it up, though she would, reluctantly, if Steven wanted her to.

"So, what are you gonna name it?" Steven asked her, and she bit her bottom lip in thought. Finally she decided with a bright smile.

"Steven!" Steven coughed at her answer.

"Um, won't that get a bit confusing?" Spinel blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean, if you're talking to it and calling it "Steven", I might think you're talking to me," Steven explained to her. Spinel made an 'oh' sound at that revelation.

"Okay then... Lion-Steven!" Steven just sighed with a smile as if just giving up.

"That works. Come on, we still have time left in the day! Let's spend the rest of it on the beach!" Spinel cheered in excitement. She had been looking forward to this all day long. Quickly, she put her new toy in her gem, (something that fascinated Steven she found out), the place where she had put her other tickets, and took off running towards what she thought was Steven's home, dragging the poor hybrid along.

"Wait, Spinel, you're going the wrong waaaaaaaayyyy!"

-TAoLaF-

Huffing and puffing as he bent over, Steven managed to finally get them back to his house twenty minutes later, though he was severely out of breath from trying to keep up with his energetic pink friend as she dragged him across the town in the opposite direction. 'I need to lay off the donuts at some point. Maybe next year. Yeah, that sounds good.'

Taking a minute to catch his breath while Spinel stood next to him, absolutely thrumming in anticipation, he thought about what they could do for the rest of the day on the beach. 'Maybe start with a sandcastle? She might like that, and I haven't built one in a while, so that will be fun! Maybe go swimming, too, though I don't know if she knows how to swim... I could teach her. Let's see, what else...'

After a few moments, Steven was finally able to breathe properly again and corrected his posture.

"Okay, I need to go change into swimming trunks before we can play."

"Swimming trunks?" Spinel asked, ever curious about anything and everything new. "What's wrong with your base form?"

"My... base form?" Steven replied in confusion.

"Yeah! I know those things you have on are just coverings, if that fun human activity was anything to go by." 'Oh no, she's bringing that video up again. Please no...' "Wouldn't it be easier to just go with your base form?" Trying to ignore the raging blush on his face, Steven attempted to speak clearly.

"Spinel, it's not decent for humans to run around in our... base form. It's just something we're not supposed to do."

"Why not? Gems do it all the time, and you're half gem, right?" Trying not to groan in frustration, after all, it was not her fault she would not know human etiquette, or human anything if he was being honest. He sighed. 'I sure am sighing a lot lately, I should put a check on that.'

"It's a human thing, you'll understand in time," he stated bluntly, ignoring her cute pout, "now come on, I need to go change so we can have fun."

"Yay! Fun Time!" Spinel exclaimed with joy, bouncing and squeaking as she followed Steven into his house. Well, their house now.

Ten minutes later they were sitting on the sand near the water with a bucket and a couple of shovels as Steven explained the intricate art of sandcastle building.

"-then you pat it down and voila, you have yourself a castle made of sand!" Steven demonstrated by building a basic tower, Spinel watching like a hawk the entire time.

"Alright let's do this! We're gonna make the bestest sandy cast-le ever!" Not bothering to correct her, they got to work, laughing and chatting as they focused on making a large castle. Steven had wanted to ask her about the garden he had found her in, but refrained for the time being. After all, he did not want to bring down the mood. 'Maybe later.'

It was not long before they were done and the both of them stood a bit away to admire their work. It was far from perfect, with its crooked towers and one side of the main square sloping down, but it was theirs and they built it together, and that was all that mattered to the two of them.

Steven pulled out his phone as an idea crossed his mind; Spinel looking at him in confusion as he did so.

"Come on, let's get a photo with it so we can remember this day down the road," Steven said, positioning the two of them in a way that would include the both of them and the sandcastle. Or, well, he tried to.

"What's wrong?" Spinel asked, seeing his disgruntlement as he twisted his phone this way and that.

"I can't get us and the castle into shot that well..." Steven grumbled as he continued trying to find a good angle.

"Oh, if that's all you wanted, why didn't ya ask?" Spinel stated and grabbed Steven's phone out of his hands, prompting a shout of "hey" from him. He watched as she stretched her arm out in front of them and slapped himself mentally for getting she could stretch like that.

"That's a great idea!" Spinel beamed at the praise. "Okay, face my phone's back to us and hit the middle of the screen on the bottom. If we hear the click we'll know you did it right."

Spinel wrapped her free arm around his body, and Steven did the same, both giving toothy smiles as they heard the "click" from his phone. She quickly reeled her arm in and handed the phone back to Steven and he quickly pulled the picture up.

"Look at that! It looks perfect!" They were off to the side, slightly angled, as they stood in front of their castle.

"Yeah..." Spinel said in awe. They continued looking at the picture for a few more seconds before the sound of a wave of water broke their thoughts. Both swiveled their heads around in time to see a wave totally destroy their sandcastle.

"Nooooooooo!" Spinel shouted in agony as she dove to the spot where the castle of sand had been. "Our castle is gone! This isn't fair!" She pounded her fists in the sand, causing a plume of sand to shoot into the air and land all over the poor gem.

"Spinel! It's okay, it wasn't supposed to last forever. We can always build more, I promise," Steven explained as he walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, I have the picture of it on my phone now, remember? It will last forever that way."

Sniffling a bit, she stood up and nodded.

"Alright, as long as we can build more."

"We have all the time in the world to do that! But first, let's get that sand off of you. Race you to the water!" Steven shouted as he ran laughing, Spinel letting out an indignant squawk as she raced after him and tackled the boy into the water. He sputtered and laughed as he came back up to the surface and splashed the gem in the face, this time causing her to sputter in surprise.

Thus a water war ensued that lasted half an hour as childish laughs filled the area around them.

Too soon for their liking, they decided to get out of the water as the sunset started to light up the waters in a brilliant glow of orange and red.

"Ah shoot, I forgot to grab a towel," Steven muttered to himself as he stepped out of the water, his pink friend following behind him. His face lights up at an idea to get dry pretty quickly. Maybe it was not the best idea, but it was an idea nonetheless.

"Hey Spinel, you ever play a game called "helicopter" before?" Steven asked as he turned to face the gem. She blinked as she stood there shaking off water from her body, but the idea of a new game made her face light up in joy.

"No! How do you play it?" She asked in excitement as she bounced in place, something Steven noticed she did whenever she got excited.

"Well, you grab me around my middle and twirl me around in the air while I pretend to fly. I used to love doing this with Garnet when I was younger, but she won't play it with me anymore for some reason," Steven explained and finished with a pout.

"Oooooo, this sounds fun!" Spinel swiftly wrapped her arms around the hybrid a couple of times and easily lifted him in the air.

"Hey, easy! Take it slow at first, I don't want to get sick."

"Roger dodger!" Spinel responded and started twirling Steven around slowly at first, but quickly picked up speed at his request. They were both laughing with joy for a few minutes before something, or rather, someone, decided to break up their fun.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF STARS IS GOING ON HERE?!"

End Chapter 4


End file.
